


Lady of the Blackthorn Trees

by Vesperchan



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, BAMF Sakura, F/M, Fantasy, Magic, Sakura is the muse behind NFWMB, birthday fic, frostmarris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25294609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: When I first saw you, the end was soonTo Bethlehem it slouched, and thenIt must've caught a good look at youSasori has lost his home, his throne, and much of his will to live when he catches a good look at the sorceress he'd gladly burn for.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Sasori
Comments: 15
Kudos: 151





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Frostmarris](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Frostmarris).



Part 1

They had bound his hands with black horse hair, knotting it over his wrists in elaborate knots that he’d never be able to get out of on his own for how they blocked his magic. The enemy had done their homework and come prepared this time.

Good for them.

Sasori couldn’t bring himself to care that he was on his way to die. What was the point in grieving for such a sad and ruinous life anyway? He had lost his treasures, been run out of his homeland, sent to a foreign continent thanks to his cousin’s strange magic, and chased by every thief with a dagger from Darksprawl to the port cities. His family was likely dead while the Akatsuki group was setting themselves up pretty on the falcon throne across the world. He was a fool to have believed them in the first place. 

It was probably better for everyone if he didn’t live long enough to hear about how royally he had fucked things up an ocean away.

“Hey, you there,” one of the guardsmen called out. Sasori lifted his head enough to stare out his bangs at the other man, but it must have looked disrespectful since he felt the guard’s fist in his hair, pulling forward. Sasori cursed and fell on his knees, out of his seat while the other guards laughed.

“A shame he’s a man, I would have enjoyed myself more if we had a pretty woman,” the guard mocked.

“You think we’d get so lucky twice in one week?” another one jeered.

“The lot of you are disgusting filth. Get the criminal on his feet and lead him to the barracks. We’re not going to be wasting our breath anymore on this,” the captain bellowed before spitting in front of Sasori on the ground.

That’s when Sasori looked up to see where he was. He saw the long walls encircling the small military encampment, pitched with tents around a crudely constructed office towards the back.

The barracks Sasori was left to was a set of cages left out in the open, exposed to the elements but tucked away in the back corner. The whole camp would be able to see him in his cell, but only if they bothered to turn around and look.

He was pushed in and tumbled into the rotten straw, scratching his hands on the stones hidden within.

“Hey, you had ta use the black rope on ‘em. Shouldn’t we use the irons?” one of the younger soldiers asked his senior.

“Irons can rust and chip but the black rope will always survive, lad. You must not have much experience with the magical prisoners. You lot seem to think the stronger the lock the safer you are, but take a look at this mess here.”

“Sir?”

“Picked him up for murder. Sure they were only rouges and thieves he cut into the throats of, but its a good enough reason for us to show off how much more competent we are than those White Lilly bastards. Look at us, we caught a foreign mage in a tavern with only two men and the element of surprise!”

Sasori refused to turn around as the story of his capture was exaggerated for the younger soldiers. The truth would never come out from their lying mouths so it wasn’t worth it to listen to them. The most honest they got was when they admitting the arrest was more to show off than to protect the peace.

The Darkguard of the latest mad king was reaching farther and took over a settlement protected by the Order of the White Lillies, an order of knights who served the high king from a kingdom too far away to care about. The politics didn’t matter to Sasori as he had no personal ties to anyone or any land, black or white, it didn’t matter what color their armor was, they were all the same to him.

“What kind of magic does he have?” someone else asked.

“We ain’t taking the ropes off to show you.”

“It probably was nothing,” someone else jeered. “You just like to feel good about yourselves so you dressed some lout up as a mage? Yeah right.”

“Jeter, you bastard son of a weasel, put your fists up and say that again!”

Sasori closed his eyes and settled into the hay while the camp laughed at the scuffle outside his cell. Even if he tried, he knew there was nothing he could do and nothing he could use to fray or break the black rope he had been bound with. Even with a knife, nothing would free him until the knot was undone…an impossible task for someone left in the bindings.

If he hadn’t been alone maybe he never would have gotten into such a dire situation, but there was no such option for a foreigner like himself. After his last great betrayal, he wasn’t willing to trust anyone who wasn’t family. 

Poor Gaara. Temari and Kankuro were at least old enough to maybe hold their own, but Gaara was still young and unable to master his wild magics. He would be either consumed alive by what he couldn’t control or slaughtered by whoever put himself up on the throne. Kankuro’s puppet magic was good, but largely undeveloped, and Temari…actually Temari wasn’t one he needed to be worried about. Out of all of his cousins, she was the most proficient in her magics. She was just too stubborn to realize when she was outclassed and outnumbered.

Would they blame him? He had failed to protect his birthright. The falcon throne was being used by an usurper and his family was dead or worse thanks to his blind ambitions. He should have known better than to trust that snake’s lies about immortality without lichdom or necromancy. What a fool he had been.

He hoped they killed him quickly. Sasori was too bored left alone in a cell with only his thoughts and regret to keep him company. 

The day quickly paled into dusk and then the bonfires were lit. Dinner was had and food was passed around, though nothing was spared for Sasori apart from stale bread and a bit of water. The dark seemed to draw most of the guards out for one last drink or story before they retired. Inside the fort they all felt safe.

The hairs on the back of Sasori’s neck all stood up and he tensed inside his cell, recognizing the static of building magic. It was a thick magic, stretching far. When he looked up he couldn’t see where it came from or what was causing it, but there were moths settling on the bars of his cell, clinging to the fortress walls, and perching atop the high points and banners left aloft. The hum of magic was strongest around them.

“What-?”

A younger solider had stepped backwards and crushed a moth under his heel and out of the carcass a spill of magic grew colored quartz crystal up over the man’s heel, up his leg, and over his thigh before encasing his entire body in a jagged prison of red and pink that swallowed up his scream.

A dozen different moths detonated on their own and grew into mammoth crystals that sealed up the exist and threw colored light across the encampment. The screaming rose along with the chaos before a still came over the camp.

The months on his door hadn’t moved or detonated, as several others hadn’t, but the insects didn’t move even as their magic grew. It gave the men time to gather their weapons and arm themselves.

“What is it?” someone shouted.

“ _Where_ is it?” someone else yelled in response.

In the chaos some of the fire had spilled out of the pit and caught one of the sitting logs up in flames, but spread no further. It cast longer shadows that changed the terrain to the natural eye.

There were curses as the men turned and searched, fanning out with their swords and bows drawn. Even their commander was out of his tent, looking wary. He shouted encouragements and cursed their coward enemy but it did little to erase the men’s fears.

“I hope it ruins you,” Sasori chuckled darkly, feeling the first tickles of delight in his belly.

When one of the guards started to cough and double over his neighbors noticed in time to watch his body explode in a shower of blood and gore, torn open with sharp, growing crystal. One of the nearby guards fell back on his ass and the stain through his pants was visible.

“At the front!” the commander shouted, pointing to where the thickest cluster of crystals started to glow. Several heads turned in time to see what Sasori had already been watching. 

There was a cracking sound as a pair of delicate hands reached out through a wound in the crystals and pushed apart the two sides. There was a snap of new magic as a figure pushed herself out of the quartz and emerged atop a platform of ghostly white.

The trail of her glittering pink gown caught the firelight and Sasori could see the design of moth or maybe dragonfly wings beaded into its sides when she moved. There was a petite clack of her heels touching down atop the crystal before more crystal sprouts grew up like spores to make a staircase down to the ground for her.

Sasori knelt in his cell, watching the unearthly beauty emerge in all her finery. Her hair was the color of cherry blossoms, but it had been gathered up and held together with a crown of white and pink quarts shards, thin and long enough to make her look like something holy and haloed. Even from so far away Sasori could see the color of her eyes, as they caught the firelight and glowed with a personal magic of vibrant emerald.

“Y-you’re not from the white lilies,” someone shouted, sounding more confused than scared at the sight of a woman.

She didn’t respond right away, but took her time to look over the men in front of her, turning her head this way and that way, spotting the other soldiers who cowered behind tents and crates of rations. She looked Sasori’s way and the wave of magic made him tremble. If he hadn’t already been on his knees he would have gone down from the look alone.

“Who was the one who raped and murdered the village girl?” she asked, voice as calm as deep water and just as dark.

There was a whisper amongst the men, questions hissed between them in their confusion. What villager? What girl? They weren’t rapists so why would she ask that?

“No matter,” she breathed out, exhaling more magic the men couldn’t see. “He’s here and all of his fellows are complicit. You will all die for his sins.”

“Bitch!”

She didn’t flinch as a swarm of wings rose up behind her and assailed the men in front of her, halting their advance. A thousand different wingbeats hummed in the air, drowning out the hows of anguish from those too slow to get out of the way.

Someone raised their sword her way but she didn’t even look in his direction as the earth split and his body was impaled on a thin obelisk of red crystal.

She raised her hand and the earth trembled before the men in front of her were lifted into the air. A flick of her wrist contoured them horribly before dropping them back to the earth, folded unnaturally backwards.

Sasori watched, rapt and amazed as she turned men inside out and displayed the enormity of her power over the soldiers. She was without mercy, leaving men to bleed out and die on spears of quartz, while other were devoured alive by carnivorous beetles. With others she used magic to brutalize their bodies before finishing them off.

With the last few straggling soldiers she had to walk out after them, as they ran screaming for the walls, desperate to climb to safety. She let them get halfway before their heads slipped from their necks and soaked the ground with enough blood to turn her white crystals pink and her pink crystals red.

The stables were loud with frightened horses but she ignored them in favor of turning towards the cells. That’s when Sasori noticed he was the last living human left in the camp apart from whatever avenging goddess she was.

“You are not one of them. Why are you here?” she asked.

Sasori had to swallow before speaking. “As an example.” He held up his bound hands and she seemed to recognize the black rope for what it was.

“A creature of magic, or are you a learned magician?” she queried, tilting her head so that the dangling earrings tinkled against each other.

“I have learned and practiced my family’s arts, divine lady,” Sasori answered. “The men of this land would call me a mage or a sorcerer.”

“This land?” she echoed. Without motion or command some of the crystals around his cell glowed brighter and he winced under the light, used to the dark of his corner.

He heard her inhale and knew she saw the foreign features of a native to the Golden Desert. True he was pale, but his eyes were desert colored like the eyes of his mother and father before him.

“Then, spellbinder,” she spoke, dimming the lights, “what brought you so far across the sea?”

“The rushed magics of my cousin. Our family was cast out and to save me from execution they did what they could,” Sasori explained without mentioning the falcon throne or his royal heritage. Maybe it was obvious since he knew magic passed down through the royal family exclusively, but it felt wrong to speak of what he once was. He was no longer a prince or a exalted practitioner of the arts.

“What is your name, spellbinder?” she asked.

“Sasori.” He bowed his head and dared. “And who might you be, divine lady?”

When the noisy bars to his cell creaked open he looked up to see she hadn’t moved but was still staring down at him with a contemplative look to her eyes. “You may call me Sakura. I am little more than you are as a practitioner of magic, but I fear I am far older than you could guess.”

“My lady?”

“Sakura,” she softly corrected. She gestured to the open door and beckoned him forward. “You will need someone other than yourself to undo those knots, won’t you? Come here and let me do so.”

“You are too kind,” Sasori could only whisper as he stood and approached.

With only a blur of movement to watch, she took the knot and twisted it before her magic forced its way into the binding and nullified their passive magic. She then yanked on one band and the whole thing came undone. 

She turned over his wrist and rubbed her thumb across his pulsing vein where a rash showed off where the ropes once had been. With the passing of her thumb across his skin the rash abated and the hurt went with it.

“Where will you go now, Sasori?” She reached for his other hand and he didn’t protest.

“I will…I will continue to wander.”

Forming words became difficult in her presence. She was dressed like a queen and carried herself like a god, but the way she held his wrist and traced his wounds was soft like the caress of a lover. He struggled to think up an answer to her question as different thoughts distracted him; so close he could _smell_ her.

“You have no home here and no destination to guide you after here. What of your homeland? Do you not wish to return?”

Sasori closed his eyes and forced his head to shake. “No, I…I would only be returning to die with how I am now. There is nothing for me there, no matter how I wish it were otherwise.”

“So what of your ambitions here?”

He blinked hard, distracted by the color of her lips and how they matched the blush of her gown. “Here?” Sasori echoed. “I…there is nothing for me here.”

“Then come with me. You are young and not without merit in the craft of spell working. Your veins of magic speak to this.” When Sakura spoke the thrum of her magic brushed up against his and he felt it like the stroke of fine rabbit fur-just as vivid. It made him shiver.

“With you? Why would you suggest such a thing? I could be of no good to you with my own young abilities. You are far older and stronger.”

“Oh yes, that isn’t in question,” she chuckled. “But I have trained others and take no delight in casting out a hopeless man to die from lack of ambition. Come with me and make something of yourself. I would assume at one point in your life you enjoyed the study of it, didn’t you?”

Her words provoked a memory of the libraries in the palace. He remembered running down their halls and vowing to his mother he would read every book they had before he died, even the ones about magic only the adults could access. She had laughed but never doubted him.

Now he wondered if the library still stood. Had they burned it? 

“I was once quite fond of books,” Sasori quietly admitted. “But I still can’t understand why you would help me. I’ve done nothing for you and there are plenty of pathetic men in the world who drink themselves into oblivion and wait for death like an old friend.”

Sakura’s lips split in an honest laugh as she reached for his face, curling her fingers under his chin. “Yes, what you say is true, but how many of them are runaway mage princes who look this good?”


	2. Two

Part 2

Life at the tower was a guilty paradise for Sasori for the next four years. He had been given his own quarters with a privet study and personal, yet empty, library that she allowed him to fill up as the weeks and months rolled by.

With his personal allowance she took him to the far reaches of the continent and showed him the best stalls and shops to browse through. He trained with her once a week in magic, and then on a different day of the week he studied history, art, and literature with Sakura.

The rest of the week she was called away on the business of seeing to the needs of the world, or isolating herself in the celestial observatory. 

At first their meetings had been strictly reserved for those two days and evening dinners, but after the first year Sasori began to find ways where he could insert himself into her work or study. She noticed and teased him for his efforts but didn’t rebuke him for them.

On days when he was left alone with the unseen servants he felt more like a pet, but anytime he had the opportunity to speak with Sakura or be in front of her, all feelings of inferiority left him. Or maybe they didn’t leave him, but they turned reasonable. He had so much to learn from her even though he still would never understand why she bothered with him in the first place.

He found her one day, lost in thoughts and wandering aimlessly through the halls of the main library. He thought maybe she would appreciate the solitude but before he could help himself he called out to her.

Sakura turned and smiled softly. “Sasori, what can I help you with?”

“I was wondering if _I_ could help _you_.”

Her eyes sparkled with something close to mischief but she sounded as cordial as ever when she replied. “I am quite alright. I don’t want you being concerned for my sake.”

Sasori wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms. “You sound like one of those stuffy court politicians. What’s the matter with you today?”

“I’m feeling like a stuffy court politician,” she said.

“That’s terrible,” Sasori sighed in fake empathy. “No one would want to hang around you like that.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Looking for the woman this stuffy court political replaced, obviously,” Sasori shot back. He raised a single brow in an unimpressed expression to match his monotone.

When she smiled Sasori could tell she was tired but the heaviness was far less than what it once was. “I heard she took a vacation. Might I be of some assistance in her absence?”

Sasori produced his spell book from the straps under his arm and waved it before flipping through to one of the most recent pages where the ink was finally dry. “I was transcribing a spell and I don’t like how it came out. What did I do wrong?”

“Oh no, one of _those_ questions,” Sakura sighed even as she approached his spell book to look it over. “You always have to make things so complicated.”

“I did the transcription perfectly.”

Sakura rolled her eyes and took the book with her to a nearby table. “Yes, yes, I have no doubt you were the perfect copy machine, but the spell you were copying over fit the original spell caster and suited their natural style. You are not the original spell caster so you need to make allotments in the transcription for where you deviate from the author.”

Sasori secretly delighted in how impassioned Sakura could become with the right sort of question. She could talk for hours about her favorite authors and spell writers and how they were under appreciated in their field until after their death. It was probably his favorite bad habit, setting her off onto tangents.

“You’re looking far too smug for someone who didn’t even omit the core natural element clause, Sasori.”

“You’re supposed to keep that the same when transferring.”

“Only with like minded spell workers. You’re not a sorcerer like me, you need to make allowances for how your body handles magic otherwise you’ll blow both your hands off at the wrists. You think I want to have to make you a pair of pretty silver hands, huh?” she teased.

Sasori just chuckled in response and Sakura’s lips puckered in something close to a pout. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“You don’t sound like a court politician anymore,” he explained. “Now you’re just a nagging teacher.”

Sakura rolled her eyes and waved her hand over her shoulder. “Excuse me for looking out for your best interests. What do you expect when you show up with such shoddy work? Put this away, I’m taking you to the grove for lessons.”

In spite of himself, Sasori perked up at the mention. “It’s only the third day of the week.”

“Yes, but you’re hopeless and I’m in need of a good distraction,” Sakura said, tone flippant.

Sasori wondered if there was any particular reason for her earlier despondency, but felt comfortable letting it go if she was willing to spend time with him in her grove. He wasn’t about to complain about the extra attention.

One of the invisible servants appeared at the door to the balcony, offering Sakura a pair of heels to change into. Sakura stepped out of her slippers and reached for the shoes already inscribed with world walking spells painted down their undersides.

Sasori reached before the servant could and knelt next to her side with one of the shoes already in hand. He took her heel and slid the first shoe on while Sakura balanced a single hand on his shoulder. When he helped her with the second shoe he almost didn’t let go, but realized himself before she could notice his absentmindedness.

“I should inscribe a pair for you too,” Sakura admitted as he stood.

“You want to gift me a pair of heels?” he teased in a flat monotone to contradict the excitement in his heart from being so close and intimate.

“Absolutely,” Sakura joked. “I think it would do wonders for your ass.”

Sasori snickered but offered his arm for her to take. When Sakura took her first step there was a familiar click from her heels on the marble before magic began to ripple around them. The scenery melted like a water painting in the rain but Sakura led Sasori straight through the mess and through a fluttering of dragonfly wings before the world became solid once more. There was no more click or clacking sound as her heels touched down on the grass, but there was still an unnaturalness to the way she walked perfectly on an imperfect surface.

“How long did the enchantment on your shoes take you?” Sasori asked as the last of his nausea abated.

“A decade, but I was less fastidious about the design. My master had a pair she worked on for twenty five years. _Those_ boots could take her across oceans even if she never had visited the place before,” Sakura explained.

“I think your heels are plenty impressive, but I’ll be sure to discover some less dizzying way to migrate long distances,” he begrudgingly admitted.

“Careful, you’ve been too kind with your complements recently. You wouldn’t want me to start suspecting you to be sweet on me, would you?” Sakura teased with a coy expression before pulling out of Sasori’s hold to walk ahead of him.

In front of them was a grove of dead and ugly looking trees, all helplessly barren with more thorns than life. As Sakura approached the trees, they started to pull themselves up, stretching taller and farther than any blackthorn tree had a right to be before their branches began to tremble with new buds. The potential of life was back in their bark but nothing would bloom unless Sakura let it.

The grove was her favorite place to practice magic safely, as the trees had been a gift from her previous master. They were old, dead things but each responded to her magic whenever a spell was preformed correctly. When Sakura did her work the whole field would be a snowstorm of white blossoms and petals. It was also a fair practice spot for Sasori to go to when he was having trouble with his spells. If he was using an insufficient magical output the trees would clue him in with their reactions.

Sasori noticed how the buds remained and frowned at the overall health of the trees. Normally Sakura left them barren until explicitly using a spell, but it seemed as if she was leaking magic… was that on purpose? 

“What are you doing?” she yelled back, already far ahead of where he stood.

“That should be my question to you,” Sasori yelled back, pretending to sound annoyed. “Why are you already cheating?”

“It’s been a shitty morning, don’t belittle me for a few harmless pleasures,” she shot back with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Hurry up or I’ll leave you behind.”

“No you won’t.”

“Don’t talk back to me!”

Sasori did his best to hide his smirk but he was afraid she could hear it in his words whenever he talked. For as amazingly powerful a sorceress she was, it was painfully easy to rile her up. It was in such moment she showed what Sasori considered her true age. Maybe she was decades ahead of him, but sometimes it felt like he had seen more of the world and lived on it longer.

Hours later the pair reclined on a borrowed blanket set underneath the flowering blackthorn trees, content to watch the petals fall like snow as the magic drained out of the trees. Considering how long and hard he had practiced, he assumed it would be hours before the land was dry and barren again.

“More of our lessons should be outdoors,” he said over tea.

Sakura hummed along, looking as if she was flirting with the idea of a nap. He reached over and took the tea dish from her fingers and set it aside, out of the way. She didn’t protest and didn’t even bother to react when Sasori scooted closer.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Sakura blinked but answered after a pause. “You’re so entitled. What makes you think you get to hear about my problems?”

“Who else do you take to your sacred grove?”

She giggled. “It’s not sacred. I told you I’m not a god.”

“You’re more than just a sorceress though, aren’t you?” 

Sakura’s eyes had all but closed until Sasori spoke. Slowly, she raised her head and stared in his direction. “What would lead you to make such a bold accusation?”

“You’re too powerful to be a sorceress.”

Sakura hummed thoughtfully, searching his face before leaning back and smirking. “Then consider this a time for lessons, boy, tell me what you know of sorceresses and witches. Tell me the truth between wizards and warlocks, the fae and the mage.”

“The difference is in where one draws their power. Witches take magic from the earth and the natural world and are considered the most basic of magic practitioners due to their inability to carry magic in their own body. Not much different are those who strike pacts to obtain magic, like those in the warlock profession. Divine clerics and priest do this with their gods but they like to distinguish themselves from the lot of magic users by claiming their patrons are divine.”

“As if that makes them any different than us,” Sakura giggled. “What else?”

“Some are born with magic already in them and learn to use or harness such a magic through various means. In this regard both the sorceress and the wizard are similar.” 

“How is a wizard different from a spellbinder then?” Sakura interrupted, leaning forward with a knowing glint to her eyes.

Sasori swallowed and thought over his words carefully before speaking. “Wizards memorize spells to harness their powers and are limited by how much their medium can withstand in a given period of time. That is why they would use wands, rods, or even staves to channel their magic through as well as spell components, like ingredients,” Sasori said.

As if to demonstrate Sakura reached up and broke off a dry branch of one of the blackthorn trees. She turned around with the withered thing in hand and shook it once before her magic made it bloom with a flourish of petite white blossoms. From the point golden magic flowed, dropping to the ground and transforming into a pool of water. 

“And you have no such item, so tell me now the reason for it,” Sakura said. She threw the thriving branch behind her shoulder and rejoined Sasori on the picnic blanket. When she sat her skirts flared out around her and sparked with the beaded designs. She looked as if she was clothed in millions of dragon fly wings.

“I am not a wizard. I need no components and I carry no wand, but I do have a medium.”

Sakura smirked and held up two fingers.

“Ah, I meant I do have _two_ mediums,” he said.

“I should know, I bound both of them for you,” Sakura said.

“And I’m thankful to you for that, so quit mentioning it every time you can,” Sasori sighed, feeling his ears heat when she looked at him.

“Continue with our lesson, Sasori.”

He closed his eyes and forced his spirit to ground itself and his heart to quit its trembling. It had been years but he still fluttered at the sound of her voice uttering his name. He doubted he would ever grow used to the way she made him feel.

“I am a spellbinder because I bind spells into my book and execute them thusly. A spell I have successfully transcribed can be read back for its magic effect or burned for silent casting.” He hesitated, watching her carefully. “Or it can-”

“Those are the only two ways I recognize,” she interrupted. When she looked up at him through her lashes it was in warning.

Sasori nodded slowly and silently agreed, deeming it unwise to go against her teachings. It didn’t matter that blood casting was far more efficient than burning or reading, the cost was too great and Sakura refused to let his spells taste his blood for any reason. 

“If one is born a sorceress,” Sasori began, earning her attention back, “it is due to the fact that such a child came into the world through unnatural means or supernatural means, and thus was blessed with their own pool of personal magic. They need no spells written or whispered, but are considered to be the most effect of magic users apart from the singular drawback of their magic pools.”

Sakura laughed. “True, most sorcerers can’t enchant a single shoe on their own.”

Sasori slowly nodded. “My teacher is truly extraordinary to have such perfect magical control _and_ such deep wells.”

Sakura giggled. “You won’t get anywhere with me if you try to flatter this old woman, but I like you enough on your own that maybe one day I’ll tell you my secrets…one day.”

“You have secrets?” Sasori teased back.

“Every lady does.”

Sasori rolled his eyes and played at being disinterested. “I’m not sure I want to know about those types of secrets. Ladies are better left a mystery, thank you.”

“Sexist log. Don’t be such a garden variety vegetable about it.”

Sasori ended up sputtering at her weak insults and that only provoked her further. She was sitting up, ready to chastise him when the magic in the field snapped taunt and they both turned like mirrored versions of each other, to face the center of the field where something was trying to emerge. 

“What is it?” Sasori asked first. He was already on his feet and had slipped one of the books out from its holder under his arms.

“No, wait. I recognize this magic. Let it pass, it’s only a summons spell.” Sakura waved her hand in the air and yielded her protective magic. Like a popped balloon, the furry animal tumbled to the grass and shuffled around a bit before noticing Sakura and Sasori. The fox bound over and stopped at her feet, turning to show off a letter tied to his back.

“There were more efficient ways of reaching you, I’m sure,” Sasori huffed in complaint. He didn’t put his spell book away.

Sakura read the missive and sighed, burning it up before standing. The fox deflated and became a construct of raw and tangled magic before the breeze blew it’s remains away.

“We should hurry back. I need to pack up before my escort arrives.” Sakura forced herself to smile. “I’m not trusted to arrive at the council without one.”

The idea of Sakura being manhandled into a meeting or position she wasn’t in favor of didn’t sit well with Sasori. “I could kill them if you wanted. We could say they never arrived.” He offered her his arm to take as he finally pocketed his spell book.

“The offer is tempting but would ultimately lead to more noise than I’m willing to put up with.”

Sasori inclined his head as the world around them began to melt with the transportation magic. “A stiff drink for the road then?”

“Yes, please.”

When they arrived back at the tower in the library, they were stepping through the doors that led to the outside balcony. The doorway folded itself up after their arrival, transforming into a nondescript stone wall that was indistinguishable from all others.

If Sakura wanted to, she would have little trouble turning her home into a prison for Sasori. It would be near inescapable with the endless levels and far reaching staircases, not to mention the unfolding windows and doors that shifted position based on Sakura’s will. The tower had been grown out of her magic and was basically an extension of her being, as many magic towers were for prominent wizards and magic workers. 

“How much time do you have before your guest arrives?” Sasori asked.

“Not enough.” Sakura paused to consider his question and tapped her nose while thinking. “But maybe an hour if he’s fast. Don’t feel like you have to interact with him. If possible I’d prefer the pair of you not interact as it would only lead to more exhaustive questions.”

“Why? Is my presence taboo?”

“No, but my tutelage is.” Sakura grinned mischievously. “So please don’t tell them I’m teaching you anything. If it comes down to it, say you’re a visiting friend.”

After four years this was the first time Sasori had to be deceptive with one of Sakura’s guests. True, it was rare anyone made it to her tower, and the most interaction he had with other humans was when he went shopping, but his studies had never been called taboo.

“Is it alright if they know I’m a spell caster?” he asked.

“That was something your family began in you, I only furthered your studies, so no, you don’t have to hide that you know magic. But please keep the fact that I’ve aided you as much as I have a secret. If you were without magic until me it really would be illegal.”

Sasori made a face. “That sounds… seditious.”

Sakura shrugged. “I liked the peace of not having a wizard or adventuring party showing up on my doorstep every month, trying to kill me because they thought I was evil for being an unregistered agent. There wasn’t any real danger to it, but I got bored and tired, so this is the compromise. I follow some shitty rules and they leave me alone. ”

“I can still kill someone for you. That offer is still on the table if you need it.”

“Death is easy, Sasori,” Sakura said, touching his face with both hands. “Dealing the the endless cycle of it isn’t, and I don’t have the heart to break the wheel before it starts spinning.”

The quote made Sasori remember something they had both read and discusses one night over wine and cheese. The cycle of revenge and how it always continued to spin, how an eye for an eye left the whole world blind. How was one to escape such a vicious cycle other than opt out of it when it was their turn to deal violence?

In a rare moment of darkness Sakura laughed at his naïvety and drained the rest of the wine. ‘ _Don’t stop at an eye. If someone took from me I wouldn’t leave them with eyes, hands, or teeth. When wronged, the one who survives need not turn the wheel on its endless cycle, but instead shatter it without mercy. I do not work in half measures, and if I truly was so wronged, there would be no one left to continue the cycle of violence_.’

Sasori had never forgotten her cruelty of effectiveness from the first night they met, and he never would. The monstress beauty she was in the firelight haunted his dreams years later, but there was nothing in him that could complain against it. He had never seen anything more beautiful.

Yet he knew, after so many years, Sakura was not easily moved to such anger. Her displays of wrath were rare and hard won by the worst of the worst.

“I ned to pack,” Sakura said simply before retreating for her rooms.

Left on his own, Sasori busied himself in pestering the library’s speaking tomes for any information they had on visitors to the tower. One of the books admitted it was probably another wizard and that, depending on the kingdom, it could be any number of intellectual equals. 

Another book listed a number of prominent magic users in the neighboring lands and Sasori grew more and more irked as he saw their likenesses painted in ink across the pages. Too many mages liked to keep themselves younger looking than they had any right to. Sakura looked plenty young too, but it wasn’t something she was active about maintaining, but rather a side effect of the reservation and health magic she possessed.

The first hour came and went without word of a visitor, but then the clockwork birds that roosted in the upper levels of the tower showed him what they had spotted, approaching from the north. Indeed there was a young, handsome looking mage on wyvern.

Sasori didn’t think twice but threw off his normal wear and changed into a loose, open front nightshirt and the form fitting black riding pants he used while practice fighting in the tower’s gym. If he could look more like a gigolo it would have to come out in his acting. At least his hair was a mess.

He heard voices and knew Sakura must have greeted her guest in one of the main halls. It was easy enough to find, no matter how confusing the tower could become on its own.

“Are you sure you have everything you need?” a male voice inquired.

“You should know by now I’m more than proficient in sealing and spatial magics. All I need is this,” Sakura replied waving a hand in the air where her bracelet sparkled with extra beads. 

Sasori emerged at this moment, rubbing at his face with the palm of his hand and faking sleepiness. The exaggerated yawn caused Sakura to turn and her reaction was priceless.

“Are you leaving already?” he asked, ignoring the dark haired mage who looked just as gobsmacked.

“Sasori?” Sakura squeaked.

He smiled at her guest and it was the fakest he had ever felt. “I didn’t know you were gonna have visitors.”

“I…you didn’t mention having a house guest,” the other male laughed. “I hate to think I’m intruding.”

“No, it’s fine Itachi,” Sakura said, still looking confused and alarmed at her student. “I-Sasori, what are you doing?”

“Seeing you off,” Sasori replied, sounding sweeter than fake sugar. “You said you’d be gone for a while so I wanted to say goodbye. Who is your escort?”

“A court mage from the Konohagakure empire, Itachi Uchiha,” the stranger answered, sweeping a had up to make into a fist above his shoulder. His robes were well cut and draped over only one half of his body, leaving the other side exposed to the more form fitting black shirt and riding pants, not dissimilar to the ones Sasori wore to look whorish. 

“And you are?” Itachi asked.

“Just a friend Sakura invited in, no one important.”

Itachi tilted his chin up and narrowed his eyes. “A friend from the Golden Desert? You must have come a long way.”

“Longer than most.”

Sasori smirked and Itachi’s dark black eyes narrowed and flared with simmering magic. Sasori could smell the pyromaniac stench to it as the Uchiha’s magic made his eyes flash red. Between the two of them, Sasori thought his chances were pretty good if they had to go toe to toe. He had come a long way since the first day Sakura picked him up, and now he was able to do things his cousins could only dream of.

“How long are you staying on our continent?” Itachi asked, phrasing his words carefully as he never once looked away from Sasori.

“As long as I’m useful,” Sasori answered through a rakish grin that had Sakura groaning silently in the background.

“It’s not-you know what, never mind. I’m ready to go,” Sakura interjected.

Sasori slouched against the wall and blew a dramatic goodby kiss as Sakura started to head out. “Come back safe,” he called. 

“Go fuck yourself!” she shouted without looking back.

Sasori felt his shoulders jump with true delight at her words. He wanted to bend over laughing but he stifled it all for a smooth chuckle before shouting back, “I’d rather leave that to you.”

Itachi glared but turned to follow Sakura out before pausing on the threshold to the outside. “ _Sasori_ , was it?” Itachi asked. “It might be in your best interest to return home as soon as possible. Sakura is far too kind to say it to your face, but people from your continent aren’t thought of highly here. You do her a disservice by intruding on her hospitality.”

“Nah, I enjoy being alive much better when I’m here,” Sasori answered back honestly. Truly, before he met her Sasori had only been waiting to die and was a pessimistic attitude about anything that happened to anyone. Before Sakura, Sasori hadn’t liked the person he was.

Itachi glared once before turning sharply on his heel and following Sakura out. Sasori watched from a nearby window as Itachi caught up to Sakura and helped her onto the back of his wyvern before following her into the saddle. Sasori glared at how close Itachi insisted on being and knew he had done the right thing to suss out the assholes who thought they knew Sakura better.

“He wasn’t even that pretty.”

Sasori grumbled to himself before passing out face first in his bed, resolved to wait until Sakura came back as patiently as he could.

* * *

When Sakura found him a week later, he was on his back under the massive telescope she had fixed atop the mounted platform in the observatory.

“And here I thought you’d greet me as soon as I returned,” Sakura teased, stepping into the room. When Sasori didn’t reply she approached his body and laughed at his sleeping face. “You’re lucky I like you, otherwise I never would have forgiven you for such a stunt.”

“Does that mean you’ll take me shopping?”

Sakura startled and then laughed as Sasori cracked open a single eye. Before she could stop him she felt his arms around the small of her back tugging her forward. She braced against the ground, one hand on either sided of his skull as she propped herself up. That’s when she smelled the wine.

“Have you been drinking?” she gasped.

“Maybe. It’s lonely without you here. What else did you think I’d do?”

“Study.”

Sasori shook his head. “Not fun on my own.”

“I leave you alone three fourths of the time, how was this any different?” she asked.

“You were somewhere I couldn’t reach.” Sasori closed his eyes and sighed deeply, looking like he’d drift back off to sleep. “Stay with me?”

“Sasori, you’re drunk.”

“I’m _lonely_ ,” he corrected.

“Fine, lonely and drunk, but still drunk. Get to bed.”

Sasori tightened his arms around her waist and tried to pull her closer but Sakura was strong so she didn’t budge. “Carry me,” Sasori demanded, slurring his words almost.

It was an unreasonable demand, but he was drunk so Sakura braced and heaved Sasori back, picking him up into her arms and turning him around so she cradled him like a bride with his head resting against her shoulder.

“You weight as much as an ox,” Sakura complained as she carried him down the stairs under the telescope.

“You deserve it, you were gone so long.”

“It was a week you big baby.” Sakura huffed loudly and lifted him higher in her arms before exiting the room and making for the hall. With her passive magic she manipulated the hallways to shorten and contort for her, turning the long walk short.

Sasori reached out and hooked one hand over her shoulder, hanging on as she kept him in her arms. With him close she could smell the soap as well as the wine.

“What are you going to be like if you ever decide to leave? You’re hopeless.”

The arm around her shoulder tightened. “I’m not leaving you.”

“You know, one day you’re going to be strong enough to fight off whoever it was who drove you out of your homeland and then you’re gonna wanna head home,” Sakura said. “They always do.”

“Not me,”Sasori insisted, rising his volume in anger.

“You say that now,” Sakura snorted, pausing to kick his door open. “But don’t sell yourself so short. There’s a lot more to life than this damn tower.”

“Yeah and it all sucks,” Sasori snapped.

“What about your family?”

“They’re only safe if I stay away. I go back…we’re all toast.” Sasori inhaled sharply and then dropped his head back onto her shoulder. “They wanted me to live and I was never worth it.”

Sakura hesitated on the threshold but then pushed in, turning so Sasori would fit through the door. She carried him over to his bed and set him down under the rumpled covers, taking care to pull off his shoes before tucking his feet under the blankets. He pawed at the mattress, turning around only to be pushed back against the pillows by Sakura.

“You need to sleep this off. Getting sloshed while I was out wasn’t a smart idea.”

“You’re a smart idea.”

Sakura snickered, almost choking on the laugh that came so naturally. Sasori was a lot more fun to take in as a student than she first anticipated. He had been moody and dark in the early weeks, but that melted away soon enough.

“I’m going to leave some water and medicine on the nightstand for you,” Sakura said.

When she moved to stand Sasori grabbed at her wrist and she stopped. “Don’t go.”

“I’m not leaving the tower.”

Sasori blinked, eyes unfocused and bleary. “Sometimes you go to that place and it always hurts you, but you shouldn’t go, even if you’re safe in the tower.”

“Someone isn’t making sense,” Sakura teased. When she tried to pull away he reached with his other hand to stop her from rising. “Sasori, I’m going to get upset.”

“Why don’t you age?” he asked. “It’s not that you’re long lived, there is no aging in your body. Why are you so powerful with so much magic when you should have been born with a fraction of what you wield?”

Sakura gave up and sat back down. “You’re drunk, but you’re honest I guess. You want to know all my lady secrets, don’t you?”

“It’s still hurting you.”

“It’s not hurting me. What I did with that power haunts me, there’s a difference.”

“I want to live forever with you,” Sasori whispered, sounding as if his voice was meant for only secrets. “Please.”

“I won’t live forever, I’m not a god.”

“You have the power of one.”

Sakura brushed aside his longer red bangs and kissed at his forehead, inhaling his soapy scent. “I don’t know why I like you enough to admit this, but you’re drunk so you likely won’t remember it in the morning.”

Sakura reached out and a cup rolled itself up onto the nightstand and a pair of tablets unfolded themselves out of space. The cup began to fill with water enchanted to stay fresh for hours. Sasori didn’t look away from Sakura until after she was finished summoning the things his hungover ass would need in the morning.

“You’re astute to have noticed after only four years. The only others who have suspected have been those who’ve known me for decades and my closest associates, but yes, I age too slowly to be considered aged. At this rate it will be thousands of years before I see my first wrinkle. My teacher was the same way.”

“Sakura…”

She brushed the hair out of his eyes and stared too long at the shape of his face. It was a handsome face, one she found herself thinking of when it wasn’t in front of her.

“When I was seventeen she took me to the barren wastes and we hiked for a day and a night to the site of a great but forgotten battle. The carcass of a other-world god was still there, frozen in time and ice. I was strong and had perfect control, but like you said, I had too little magic for my ambitions.”

Sasori tried whispering her name again but his eyes were so heavy they could barely stay open.

“I ate the flesh of that god until my body couldn’t hold any more. I haven’t considered myself human since then,” Sakura quietly confessed, staring down at his face as it watched her.

“Please kiss me,” he whispered on the edge of sleep.

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m _honest_.” He reached for her but only caught her hair, and his fingers slipped through. “Please.”

He was drunk and didn’t know what he wanted, so it was wrong of her, so wrong, but Sakura indulged his request like a mother would, with a soft kiss against his forehead and a wish goodnight.

Sasori touched the spot and almost complained, but by the time Sakura was in the doorway, he was already fast asleep. 

Dress : 


	3. Three

Part 3

Sasori sniffed, inhaling the dust and ink scent that seemed to hang heaviest in the corners of the store. It was a nice smell, one he associated with only happy memories.

“The Sage of the Six Paths was a hack, you know that right?” Sakura huffed, leaning over his shoulder. Sasori was proud at how he didn’t flinch at the new proximity.

“There is still something to be harvested from the minds of madness,” he quoted.

Sakura sighed dramatically and all but danced away, curling to the opposite side of the low shelves. “You’ve learned too much from me. I have nothing more to teach you,” she sighed.

“And yet you keep me around because you enjoy my company,” Sasori said.

“Maybe.” Sakura shrugged and then pulled a different tome off the shelves. “I think this would suit your style more.”

Sasori accepted the new tome and smirked at the the title. “It’s not subtle,” he huffed before passing the book back.

“You don’t want it?”

“Grand Mage Chiyo was my grandmother, I know more than the author.”

Sakura flipped the book open and turned it around to show off. “But wouldn’t it be interesting to entertain the perspective of someone who wasn’t her family? You were about to read about a stupid hack who stole all his work and knowledge from his mother.”

“I don’t want to know what the lover of my wrinkled, old, dead grandmother has to say about the art of puppetry.” Sasori looked up from the worn spines and frowned at the picture Sakura had stopped at. “And I feel it would only frustrate me to read too many mistruths concerning her legacy.”

“Does that mean you’re not finishing your puppets?” Sakura asked, sounding as casual as ever while Sasori knew better.

Sakura would be far too delighted to see him building more Kugutsu dolls. The first few he had constructed in her tower delighted her even after falling apart from the mess of interwoven enchantments. Without augmenting himself he would never be able to manipulate the dolls to the degree he desired.

It was frustrating to have to watch his work constantly fall apart in front of her. Even after five years in her tower under her tutelage, Sasori still feel far too inadequate to show off his weaknesses where she could see them. 

He hadn’t been able to make perfect puppets since Orochimaru destroyed his ‘mother’ and ‘father’ dolls during the takeover. Even after growing and maturing, Sasori was frustrated about his regression in puppetry or the kugutsutsukai combat magic. It had once felt so natural to him, but now the magic steps fought him at every junction.

It just wasn’t worth the effort anymore, not when he was becoming such a proficient fire mage.

He tried not to think about the third shell that sat at the back of his study’s closet. The body was empty and bare, ready to be designed for his third attempt at a Kazekage model puppet.

“Well, it’s unfortunate that kugutsutsukai and puppetry are two areas where I am unable to assist you, as I have never been trained in the art form or tutored in its theories. I feel like there is little left for me to help you with,” Sakura sighed.

“You help me plenty,” he said.

“I take you places and tell you things you already know.”

“That’s not how I see our discussions.”

“It’s a bit intimidating how fast you picked things up. Five years in and you’re this proficient. It makes me wonder if I’m just that good of a teacher or were your previous instructors the reason for all that you’ve accomplished.”

Sasori smirked. “All I’ve accomplished. What have I done that’s worthy of such praise.”

“So many things.”

“Like what?” he pressed.

“You make the best breakfast out of anyone I know.”

He was caught between amusement and disappointment but, as was often the case with Sakura, ended up chuckling when he saw her face. It was almost unsettling how easily she swayed his dark heart to laughter.

But _only_ her. 

“How many other mages do you have cooking breakfast for you to judge me by?”he teased back.

“Not enough. I’m hungry now, so I’m going to go look for some pierogi in the market. Will you be much longer?” Sakura asked.

Sasori picked up the book on his grandmother and the other on the Sage of Six Paths, ignoring her knowing grin. “I’m already done here. Let’s pay and go together.”

It was the most natural thing in the world to come up alongside Sakura and guide her towards the front, where the counter waited for them. Sasori didn’t even notice it anymore when his hand found the small of her back and rested like a ghost there.

Sakura made seamless small talk with the book shop owner, inquiring about his family and the town itself while Sasori pulled out the money and counted it out. He was mindful to set aside enough money for a couple of marzipan pierogi-her favorite.

That’s when he noticed the black raven outside.

“Sakura, I wanted to run one more errand. Will you buy us our pastries and meet back our front?” Sasori asked, leaning in close to her ear and turning away from the raven to hide his lips.

Sakura felt the money Sasori tried pushing into her palm and pushed back. “I can pay for the both of us!” she huff. “Just tell me what you want.”

“It doesn’t matter. Get whatever you want.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Of course it matters. You want the cinnamon apple, I know you better than that. Don’t be long.”

Sakura took off first and Sasori collated the paper bag of his books and folded it under his arm, crinkling the protective paper before stepping out and heading a few shops south of where Sakura had turned.

The raven followed him.

“A year later and you’re still skulking in the shadows like a gargoyle.” Sasori stopped at the mouth of a natural alley between two homes. At the end of it Itachi was already human formed and brushing feathers off his shoulders.

“A year later and you’re still clinging to the cloak ends of her good graces,” Itachi smoothly retorted. He sounded as snooty and high born as ever. “At least _I_ have a job.”

“What are you doing this time? I doubt Sakura could possibly be needed so soon after your last impromptu abduction.”

“Better than your silly shopping trips,” Itachi muttered before turning to glare at Sasori more directly. “Until how long do you plan to stay at her side? It’s about time you moved on. The Golden Sands are as far from here as they are vast.”

Sasori sneered. “You make it sound like I should want to return to that homely sandbox.”

“You’re a leech.”

“I’m also all but done with this conversation, so if you want to do something more than throw half baked and mediocre insults at my face, say something I haven’t heard before.”

“You should move on before someone moves you,” Itachi said, dark eyes flashing red in the dark where he stood. “Realize what’s good for you and for her.”

“I don’t think I will.”

Itachi drew back his shoulders and his entire frame rippled with passive magic as he glared at the redhead. The action wasn’t unfamiliar, the Uchiha was channeling subtle magic into his eyes in a n attempt to intimidate. Sasori brushed off the action and fixed Itachi with an unimpressed look, above such base cantrips.

“You don’t think you have enemies that wouldn’t love to see you suffer and all your near ones too?” Itachi taunted.

There was a new undertone of assuredness to Itachi words that unsettled Sasori. “You know nothing.”

“Do I, Sasori of the Red Sands?”

The title was one from his princely days, back when he was heir to the falcon throne under his grandfather Ebizo. All who would one day sit upon the throne and wear the headless of their king took up a title to replace their last name. The royals had no simple last names, but earned their titles through conquest or action. The red sands were a testimony to all Sasori had warred for and bled for.

Plenty of people had once known his title back home, but on this strange new continent he was nothing more than a bum and a vagrant someone picked up off the street. How did Itachi know anything?

“You’re speaking of useless things now,” Sasori said. He wished he was back in the bookshop with Sakura, or in line to buy food. He didn’t need a title or a throne, he just…needed her.

“Don’t bring her into your messes thinking you can use her to our own ends. Our council will take a very dim look on things if Sakura dares to meddle in foreign affairs without the empire’s approval. I would not take it well if Sakura’s prospects or reputation suffered because of you.”

“I have no intention of allowing that to happen. I’ve cut ties with my old homeland.”

“But has it cut ties with you?”

Sasori growled lowly. “I’m done with you, retched corvid. Leave before Sakura returns and sees you in all your disgrace.”

“Leave her.”

“I refuse.”

Itachi’s eyes flashed a brilliant red, brighter than fire and thicker than blood. “I won’t let you be if this tarnishes her. Take my advice and move on before that happens.”

Sasori didn’t respond, nor did he flinch as Itachi dissolved into raven feathers.

* * *

Sakura awoke suddenly, tasing blood on her tongue and damp from a cold sweat. She had bitten through her tongue in her sleep and needed to heal it again. With practiced ease, she calmed her breathing and centered her focus on something to help ground her in the moment.

It was just a nightmare.

Sakura spit out the blood from her mouth and then sat up the rest of the way, realizing she had passed out again in the observatory. She was setting a bad example for Sasori. The huge ass telescope was for studying the stars, not getting drunk and passing out under.

When she moved to stand up her fingers brushed against the letter and crinkled its edge. With a groan she pulled it up to straighten out and reread. A drunk night and some nightmares hadn’t helped with the weight of her developing situation.

Half a century ago she had grown her tower and accepted subjection to the emperor because it was the easiest thing to do. She was world weary and wanted a subdued life after all the damn war and loss. With the right negotiations she could have that within the empire, the only downside to such an arrangement was being necessarily summoned for the random magical puzzle or problem she was contractually obligated to see to. For years it had never been an issue, until the second clause of her obligations was invoked.

“What do they think they’re going to win with this war? Those lands would be useless to anyone other than the tribes.” Sakura tossed the letter aside. “This dynasty is a mess. It might be time to cut and run.”

It wouldn’t be the first time she had uprooted herself and fled across the continent to somewhere just as fast and far. Did Sasori know that her teacher after Tsunade was Chiyo? It had been a long time since she left Chiyo’s tutelage to return to Tsunade’s ancestral lands, but maybe it was time for a change of space.

Alternatively, she could go to somewhere new. There were far flung islands that were barely explored or cultivated. Maybe it would be fun to live on an island with dragon eating creatures for a spell. It would be exciting at the very least, but Sasori would probably miss his book shops.

Sakura stood and then paused as the thought echoed in her mind.

Sasori

Since when did she include him in thinking about her big life changes and decisions? Consciously she could admit that life was better with him around. He made her happy and kept her from being too bored. With his conversations every weekend she felt a little more alive and all their outings to markets and cities had been…the best…oh Sakura turned soft in her thoughts as an uncomfortable truth surfaced.

She _liked_ Sasori. She wasn’t prepared to live her life without him and she wasn’t prepared to suffer through another war with him.

Oh no!

Sakura rubbed at her face and began to pace back and forth in front of the telescope. This was going to get her in trouble, this was such a bad idea. Did he know she liked him? Did he suspect? Is that why he had teased her and asked for a kiss? They lived together so many he noticed before she did-wait!

They _lived_ together- and this was her house!

Yeah joked about being a ‘kept’ man or a giggle or whatever it was called these days, but she didn’t want him to feel unbalanced in this. She was plenty older and stronger, but he had phased into adulthood long ago, so the disparity in their ages wasn’t anything a magic user would look twice at. Plus he was sassy and confident enough around her to likely consider her more an advanced colleague than a teacher since this last year.

Sakura stopped pacing and summoned a decanter of something strong to help her wake up. In place of bourbon or rum the glass was filled with something dark and static. She drank it down and groaned at the taste but finished it off for her own good.

This stupid letter had unsettled her too much and she was worrying over silly things. She didn’t need to unravel herself on her own. It was better to address these feelings, thoughts with him like it was just one more of their weekend conversations.

Where was he?

Right away she knew he wasn’t in her tower, so that meant he was either out running errands or in the grove with the blackthorn trees. If he was out shopping he would have tried to tell her, but since she decided to get plastered on her own with the mail she couldn’t rule out an impromptu shopping trip outside of the property. She almost regretted warding him against potential trackers and scrying eyes. She’d need to reword his wards so that she could find him when she needed to. It was disheartening to realize she was alone in the tower and would have to wait for his return.

This might be better, actually. Maybe she should just wait for him to come back. She could use the time to work on options for where she could go next.

Sakura instead went to take a long and papering bath. Her invisible servants brushed out her long hair and rubbed her skin with sweet oils until she glistened like a polished stone. Then she opened up the doors to her wardrobe room and paused the different rows of favorite dresses. She fingered a lovely lilac dress with a full skirt before her fingers wandered to one of her favorite ‘blooming’ gowns.

The invisible servants dressed her in the skirts first before unrolling the bodice section up and over her breasts. Unlike other dresses, the upper portion that was meant to cover her chest was composed almost entirely of lace and enchanted flowers, complements with a handful of beaded dragonflies, hidden underneath the petals. Most of the dress was a mature blue green, dark with hints of slate gray to complement the blush pink flowers.

“And will you spend a little longer on my hair today?” Sakura asked, watching herself in the mirror be dressed. “Nothing extravagant, just enough to be nicer than usual.”

She hated to admit it, but Sakura always felt a little better when she bothered to spare extra time papering herself. A nice bath and a pretty dress were just the things she needed.

It was also a great way to kill time.

Her servants finished and Sakura checked the time, realizing more than two hours had passed and there was still no sign of Sasori reentering the tower. That was disheartening. She finally had enough sense to figure out what she wanted to say. Maybe he was in the grove. It would be easy to search since it was nearby.

She stepped into her wold walking heels and turned towards he grove, taking a single step before the world went from blurring to stark white.

All the trees were in full bloom and weeping from an overabundance of blooms.

“Sasori!” she screamed, running through the blackthorn trees. Sakura could still feel his magic somewhere but it wasn’t the only magic she could distinguish. Someone else had made it into her grove while Sasori had been there.

There was so much white it was hard to see through. The fallen petals had made a thick carpet on the ground she had to stand atop of. She ran and searched, but the grove was empty.

Where?

Before she could keep from panicking Sakura screamed and the trees started to crackle with her magic, infighting and burning one by one until ever white and fluttering bloom was more like a falling star than a flower.

How could this have happened? What happened? Where was Sasori?

* * *

At least his cousins were still safe. His first fear upon realizing where he was had been for their safety. Apart from their wellbeing he was less concerned about the other consequences to his capture.

It just sucked this had to all happen after her found something to live for.

“It’s a generous gift,” Orochimaru hissed while standing next to Pein on the outside of the cell doors. “You said this was from the new initiate? How delightful.”

“I see no reason to reject the application of such an accomplished individual. Even if they are a continent away it would help to have someone we could reach out to for such rare occasions,” Pein said.

A dozen years ago Pein had barely been able to control one of his cadaver bodies from the remote shell Chiyo had constructed for him, but now it looked like he was getting along just fine with Orochimaru’s help.

From behind Pein Itachi Uchiha emerged, wearing their signature red and black colors. He said something in a quieter voice that Sasori couldn’t overhear before bowing out. 

“I should have known,” Sasori hissed, still tasting the Uchiha’s magic when he spit blood. 

“You shouldn’t have been bad, little prince,” Orochimaru mocked. “Your parents always used to say your fat mouth would get you in trouble one day, didn’t they? I can’ scarcely believe they’d appreciate it today if they heard how you only managed to make enemies an ocean away.”

Orochimaru talking about the deceased first prince and princess who were also Sasori’s mother was only something to rile him up. He refused to let Orochimaru get a reaction out of him.

“That’s enough, you talk too much,” Pein chastised. “He’s what you need for the inheritance. Do what you need to do.”

The snake faced fellow dropped his leering and instead leaned towards the bars and poured out magic into a spell that hit Sasori like a wave, knocking him back, ass over ankles.

“Ugh, the brat prince had too many enchantments on him. Some of those protective charms will take a few days to break.”

“You don’t have a few days,” Pein snapped. “Now.”

“Would you like to help?”

When Pein didn’t reply Orochimaru muttered under his breath and went back to rubbing off the magical enchantments and protective spells that kept Sasori safe. Until those were gone neither man could kill him the way they wanted to.

Sasori braced against each wave, suffering blow after blow and feeling every loss as it went. Sakura’s anti scry spell, her enchantment against blades, his ancestral fire resistance, all of it was getting stripped layer by layer.

If only had hadn’t been so stupid. Chasing down Itachi when he caught sight of the raven spying obnoxiously from just beyond the barrier’s reach couldn’t have looked more like a trap. Itachi knew Sakura was sleeping or out of it, so his intentions couldn’t have been good. But Sasori hadn’t been in the mood to ‘be good.’ Itachi had been pissing him off since day one. Even now, Sasori wanted to punch his smug little face in and then burn the remains. The guy was such an entitled asshole. He had known Sakura for nearly a decade and they were still only friends. Itachi should have given up and admitted defeat and left Sasori alone with Sakura.

He had been _happy_.

The realization of all he had loss hit harder than Orochimaru’s magic and he set his jaw against the nausea. His head hurt and his knees buckled when he tried to stand.He was being stripped of his power now, something that would hurt far more than the removal of a few hexes.

“What now?” Pein snapped in irritation.

Sasori looked up through his lashes to see someone new had entered the room and was interrupting. Orochimaru had even paused, looking tired and winded, to listen to whatever it was the Zetsu clone was saying.

Pein dismissed the clone, melting him into a pile of white ooze to sink in between the floor tiles and out of sight. In that moment of lapsing Sasori felt no more drain on his magic. Orochimaru was also distracted but hadn’t bothered to reinforce the cell-that hex had been left to expire once the draining process began.

It was an opportunity and Sasori wasn’t about to let it go.

He rolled onto his feet and took a single, flickering step the way Sakura had shown him to do without his spell books. Like mist-he was there and then he wasn’t. There were shouts in the previous room as Sasori emerged in the main hall outside the prison cells. It was too familiar not too spur him into a dead sprint towards the main audience chambers.

There was shouting behind him and he turned sharply, knowing all he could do without his spell books was rudimentary cantrips, but he did what he could to throw the sound of him screaming and running in the opposite direction.

He heard Kakuzu and Hidan arguing far off and looked up into the sky once he exited into the outer halls, fearing the shadow of one of Deidara’s clay birds. He had once thought himself a partner to the artist, but they were now his enemies and he knew better than to get caught a second time.

There was a teleportation circle in the main hall as well as several in the gate quarters where dignitaries were to be received. Gate quarters were the best place to be, but they were on the opposite side of the palace and no one apart from the royal family knew about the camouflaged seal behind the thrones in the main hall. It was a cleverly disguised family secret they had kept for generations.

He just needed to-

The floor exploded behind him and he went sailing through the air, rolling across the stone and debris as smoke trailed ever upwards, betraying his position. Overhead Deidara swooped with more bombs ready.

“Little bitch-ass snitch,” Sasori hissed, digging his hands into the mess and grabbing onto loose stone. It was burn so that would have to do. He bit his thumb and bled over the material before invoking the spell, relying on one he could remember without the spell book. It was so much harder without his medium, but he felt the magic catch and a pillar of fire erupted, striking Deidara’s bird. The damage upon contact wasn’t sever, but the clay bird was full of explosives so-

BOOM

The whole palace shook as the sky erupted in combustive fire. It made Sasori stagger and trip. His ears were ringing and he swore he felt blood from one of them.

He picked himself up, gasping for new air, and limped towards the main reception chambers. He just needed to get to the Falcon throne.

But Orochimaru was already there, waiting in front of the throne on the raised dias with a knowing smirk.

“I wasn’t done with you yet,” he hissed before a snake shot out of his mouth for Sasori. He dodge the fangs and rolled away, but choked and staggered when trying to stand. He was still dizzy and fighting was making him sick.

“I’ll bother to make it less painful since you took out one of the others in such a believable way. That’s one less trash article for me to have to take care of later on,” Orochimaru said.

Sasori noticed the other man’s hands were red and dripping, thick with blood. Was it a coup within a coup? Did it even matter if he was going to die?

“I hope you fucking choke,” Sasori coughed into the stone floor, inhaling through wet lungs.

Orochimaru laughed and it was a sound loud enough to fill the whole room. It bounced off the far walls and echoed far beyond.

Kakuzu showed up in the back and was content to lean against one of the far pillars and watch while he cleaned his red and bloody blades. From the sounds of it, Hidan had been put out of commission and maybe even the other members, like Pein’s wife Konan, had also been killed. Kakuzu looked rough enough to look like he had just come from a fight that actually made him sweat. Beside Kakuzu Itachi and another member, the blue one called Kisame, approached.

When Sasori looked for it he saw the small audience of disciples and allies Orochimaru had filled the palace with. There were old servants and house guards too, some who had served his mother and father before him. They were all watching him now, like a crowd outside an execution.

Sasori almost dropped his head, sick at the thought of his people watching him being slaughtered so theatrically. The refraction of colored light off a dragonfly’s wing made him hesitate. There was one perched on the nearest pillar, colorful enough on its own without the additional good crystal growth down its body.

“Sakura?”

The room rippled with new power but instead of quarts and crystals, the floor split open for the rapid growth of a handful of angry, twisted blackthorn trees. Unlike the ones in the grove, these were towering and sparkly planted, so that their branches could reach without feat of touching.

None of them bloomed, but the one in the center of the room swelled wider than the others. Its interior filled with light, throwing shadows out of the growth inside before a vertical scar bisected the front of the tree. Crystal growth filled the wound before the tree shuddered and groaned, almost bending backwards as the scar opened. Two delicate hands pulled the crystal edges back and Sasori could have sworn he was dreaming when Sakura emerged. 

Kakuzu didn’t hesitate but moved when Orochimar ordered him to and it was a simple thing to watch how his body became pierced with the blackthorn tree that _grew out of him_. All the different parts on his body where his secondary, and tertiary hearts were hidden all bled freely, but Sakura’s magic was no so forgiving as to kill him there. Kakuzu gurgled and struggled on the tree before it slowly began to pull him apart.

“Burn them down!” Orochimaru roared, raising up his own magic to incinerate the room.

Fire flared up from multiple mages as well as himself, but none of the trees burned and the crystals that grew along their edges only seemed to expand with the use of magic against them.

Sakura stepped out of the swollen tree and onto the pink quartz platform waiting for her. The sound of her heels on a smooth surface tickled the base of Sasori’s brain stem, delighting him to almost inhuman levels.

“What is this?” Orochimaru hissed. “Who are you? Did Konan send you?”

Sakura brushed off a stray petal from her shoulder and glanced around the room, ignoring Orochimaru and his fire mages. She glared at the place where Itachi had once stood, recognizing the traces of his magical presence.

Sasori could see from where he lay on the ground how powerful she looked, dressed in splendor and adorned with a halo of pearlescent olive branches that gradely reflected the light. She looked far more suited to a throne than anyone he had ever seen.

Apart from Orochimaru who stood next to the thrones and Kakuzu, there was one last swordsman member of the Akatsuki left in the room. When Sakura looked his way he laughed and backed away.

“I’m not touching this. You’re on your own, snake man. I don’t get paid enough to die.”

“You coward,” he roared at Kisame. “Come back here and finish the job!”

“Sire,” one of the mages hissed, trembling where she stood at the bottom of the dais. “What is it?”

“It’s human enough to die, kill it with necrotic damage.”

Sakura didn’t speak and she didn’t give them a chance to attune but cast through her trees and severed the hands of every mage who gathered magic to follow their leader’s orders. The room filled with hailing and the trees began to bloom red and pink blossoms with the new blood. Several tried to run but ended up like Kakuzu, impaled on a blackthorn sapling that was growing up through their body.

“What do you want?” Orochimaru asked, shouting out with necrotic magic already gathered in his hands. 

“Only what is mine,” she said before lifting both hands and channeling magic there.

Orochimaru struck first and his magic turned her arms black, before the disease peeled and fell off her form in immunity. Sakura’s magic manifested into a single point and then with her forefinger she pointed at Orochimaru’s chest. Before either could see or know what she was going to do, the hole was there and the damage was done. A beam of death had struck him dead on, faster than the eye could track.

Slowly, the hole began to grow, eating more and more of Oroachimaru’s body, even as he howled in pain and tried to counter it with his many spells. Sakura’s trees only bloomed brighter with more pink and red flowers.

Sakura approached the soon to be corpse of Orochimaru and lifted her skirts to step over him atop the throne’s platform. Her heel came down hard on one of his arms and he screamed when it broke off, crumbling to dust.

“You stole from me what was mine, what did you think would happen?” Sakura said.

Before he could answer she lifted her hand and his head splattered against the far wall as a stain.

There was moaning and cries in the room from some of the mages who lost their hands but none of them approached Sakura or made an effort to confront her. One had already bled out and was breathing his last breaths while another sobbed openly about their life being over.

It would have been merciful, maybe even just, to leave them with their wounds and their lives, but Sakura stopped in her steps when she saw Sasori. He was watching her from on his side on the ground. There was still blood from his ear on his face and soot staining his hands. When he managed a weak smile for her Sakura felt her heart break. The moaning behind her abruptly cut off as each mage fell dead, bleeding out to turn the pink blooms red.

“You came for me,” Sasori chuckled, too mesmerized at the sight of her.

“Hush and stay still. I’m going to heal you now,” she said, kneeling down at his side to address not only his ruptured eardrum but also the many broken ribs and bones he had suffered from the explosion earlier.

“You’re very pretty.”

“You need to stop talking,” Sakura said. She focused, trying not to think about his words or how warm they made her. She felt like her stomach was filled with dragonflies. 

“You’re always saving me.”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

“Even when you’re not killing people to free me you’re always saving me. Saving me, cause now I want to live.”

“Everyone wants to live.”

“I didn’t,” Sasori said. He blinked hard, hearing with his repaired eardrum now that Sakura was finished there. “I didn’t want to live before you.”

“You don’t…” Sakura closed her eyes and hiked her shoulders. “Just, let me heal you.”

“Can I kiss you?”

Sakura sputtered. “Sasori!”

Even broken and bleeding Sasori reached up and cupped the back of her skull and pulled her close enough to share her breath with his. “Please.”

She didn’t answer but she leaned in and took his lips first while all around them the quartz crystals glowed with a rainbow of colors as the blackthorn trees bloomed and shed their petals for a drizzle of pinks and red to obscure them from the outside world.

Sakura's dress:  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!

**Author's Note:**

> Dress inspiration comes from Paolo Sebastian’s Fall Winter 2016 collection and NFWMB from Hozier 
> 
> Happy Birthday Frostmarris!


End file.
